Mark grew up around starships. His family ran a restaurant in Regina
Starport. He spent his days reading as many starship technical manuals
he could get his hands on (in between helping his folks run the eatery),
and, on his 18th birthday in 1227, left home and signed aboard the
subsidized merchant, Intrepid Pedagogue.

Normally, life on a subbie is about as exciting as watching Hivers mate,
but things in the Regency made things more colorful. Deteriorating
Regency policies were wrecking havoc on the profits of many a free
trader in the former Domain. Mark got injured during a Regency Customs
inspection when one of the inspectors accidentally mistook a pressure
tank for a smuggling compartment (because the tank looked
“non-standard”). Ignoring Mark and the other crewmembers’ protest, the
inspector had an explosive placed on the tank. The inspector was killed
and Mark was badly hit with shrapnel and hot radioactive steam. With the
aid of advanced medical treatments and cloned skin grafts, Mark
recovered.

The rebellions on many worlds (as well as the systematic squashing of
these rebellions by Regency loyalists) made red zones out of the most
stable systems in the past 100 years. The
Pedagogue made quite a few paramilitary support runs—usually in
favor of the Regency (they had the money). News, as well, as personal
witnessing, of the atrocities Regency (now called Imperial Regency)
forces were heaping on the rebel worlds, caused the
Pedagogue crew to switch sides. The
following years into 1240 were spent running supplies to worlds that
would later join the League of Spinward States. When Regina made its
separation from the IR in 1232, the Pedagogue’s
crew supported it…mostly. The few who didn’t left at the next port of
call.

On 137-1242, the Pedagogue was
attacked and couldn’t get away. IR forces, in the form of patrol
cruisers, captured the fat trader and Mark was headed to an internment
camp deep in IR territory. On the way, however, Mark escaped from his
cell through the aid of a fellow prisoner who managed to slip out and
crack the ship’s computer’s security to release the subcraft while the
cruiser was refueling at a gas giant. Most of the prisoners (a few
captured from other ships) came with him. By piloting deep within the
planet’s thick atmosphere, he evaded the cruiser and hid for as long as
he could before life support got critical. He then made it to the main
world, sold the craft, divided the money among the captives, and signed
aboard the Far Trader Argent Dawn.

When
Avery’s call for his campaign against the Dominate came, some of the
crew of the Dawn were willing to respond.
Mark wasn’t. He was a trader; besides, with what the IR has been
stirring up, there was plenty of excitement here. Mark had an investment
as well. He used his portion of the loot to buy quite a few of the
Dawn’s shares. The last four years were
spent trading among the various worlds in the LSS. At this time,
001-1248, Mark’s captain told him that he was retiring.

The captain
had made his pile and was going back to his home on Emerald (1006/Spinward
Marches). He sold the ship to Regina Shipyards. Mark immediately
purchased it back with the share chits he had obtained plus financing
the rest. Since the ship was already a few decades old thus the price
reduced, the remaining 29% of the value was a very reasonable deal for a
40-year plan. Mark hopes to pay it all off long before that.

Mark is
looking for a new crew; the others have moved on. He has 71% of the ship
in his name. The 1276th Bank of Regina has the rest. One day , he will
pay off the mortgage and the ship will really be his. Now, to find a new
crew…